I’m not sure why this book and it’s companion, “Mech 2” have come out. We’re well beyond this stage in Rade Galaal’s career. He’s left his job as a MOTH a long time ago and took most of his team with him. Now, we’re back to when he was the Chief of MOTH Team Eight, Alpha Platoon. I did like this period of time since the MOTH’s were fighting for United Systems and the team was not a foul-mouthed as in later books. Oh, don’t get me wrong, they are plenty of foul-mouthed episodes in this book, but at least it appears the Rade is attempting to shut his guys up some.
So the Team is on a mission to a planet to find out why nothing is coming from the forward operating base previously established on the planet. It doesn’t take them long to run into trouble. The support fleet orbiting the planet are also engaged and seemingly not doing so well. Rade and his Team take off across the desert desperately trying to not tangle with thousands of Draactals, four legged, vicious animals, that could literally tear anything apart. They had overtaken the city and the forward operating base.
Rade and his men only had a short supply of oxygen left in the Brigands so they needed to find some place and some way to replenish what they had and soon. The came upon a cave in the desert and from it came several Hoplites and other mechs. Rade soon found that these mechs had no human operators. Apparently, the enemy had used some kind of gamma ray that destroy humans, but left machinery intact and unharmed. These mechs invited Rade’s team into the cave and Rade reluctantly allowed his team to move forward until they came to a strange looking plant. At about the same time, they found a civilian scientist named Cynthia. From that point on, things don’t go as they appear.
This book seems like it comes in two parts, but that’s not the way it is written. It’s a good lengthy book and I liked the story, but with the ending of this one as it was done, I’m not real sure what “Mech 2” will be about. I guess I’ll find out since I’ve already downloaded it, but I do find myself getting a little tired of this whole Rade Galaal story and especially his team of foul-mouthed idiots (smart idiots). And I say that even though in my youth, I was a sailor, but I never ran into a bunch of military types who are as vulgar as this bunch.